Review: Tony Moly AC Control Whitening Emulsion

Happy Friday everyone, today I want to talk about a Korean skincare product that’s been a part of my routine for the past couple of years. This is the Tony Moly AC Control Whitening Emulsion, which I ordered a couple of years ago via an eBay store. This has been sitting in my day time skincare routine throughout the spring and summer months of this year and last, so I have more than enough time using this product to talk about it.

So what does this product aim to do? According to the side of the box, the product claims to:

So to TLDR; it aims to brighten the skin, tighten pores and moisturise. A quick google of “Sciadopitys Verticilata” is, shows that it’s a Japanese conifer tree, so I learned something new today! I don’t know much about the pine tree itself, and although I had a little look around the internet for an idea, the most consistent information I can find suggests it’s used for skin conditioning. I’ll discuss in more detail how the product behaved on my skin a bit later, but I wanted to establish the product’s intentions first, before I get into the meat of the review.

As for the packaging itself, the product is contained in a plastic bottle, with a pump dispenser. As far as the appearance of the product goes, I like the white and silver combination, as I naturally gravitate towards cooler tones. The combination makes me think of the metallic imagery I think of when I picture air conditioners, vents and the refreshing and cooling feeling that comes with it, so I think design team made some great choices there.

The product does come with a plastic lid, which isn’t super secure from my experience: it has a satisfying click shut or pop off, but the amount of give required to pull the lid off seems to vary. If I knocked this off my desk, I can almost certainly predict that the lid would pop off, which is something to bear in mind. I do not travel with this product as the bottle is very tall and takes up a lot of space compared to other skincare products when I’m preparing to travel – however, you could dispense some of this product into a travel bottle instead to get you by – I’m just very typically lazy about it, and like to use my sample products so I can finally try them out.

As for the formula itself, it’s true to many emulsions by being a very light weight gel-cream-watery consistency. This let’s it sit towards the beginning of my combination of emulsions, serums and/or moisturisers, because of how light-weight it is. I adore this factor, as I do not enjoy applying heavy formulas on my skin, and especially not during the summer time where the weather here in the UK is getting pretty hot, as well as extremely humid. It spreads out over the skin very easily, and absorbs very quickly which adds to my enjoyment of this emulsion.

The emulsion itself works really nicely with my oily-sensitive skin: the claims that it helps brighten dull skin and moisturises are definitely true for me, as I find my skin feels cooled, soothed and just less tired than I often wake up feeling. At the moment, with my naturally lower tolerance for the hotter and more humid weather, plus my hayfever, my skin and my general well-being has been on the tired and dull side of the spectrum, and I find this emulsion helps invigorate my skin. I didn’t find the emulsion tightened my pores, as mine as still quite large and obvious even after application, but I do find the emulsion contributes to keeping my excess sebum levels down for slightly longer than if I didn’t apply it, so I still consider this a good product for oilier skin tones.

What really makes me happy about this product is that it handles many of my skin’s skincare needs without being oppressive. Many skincare products here in the UK/the Western market target oily skin’s needs, but are often agitating for sensitive skin types. I don’t consider myself on the extreme end of the sensitive skin spectrum, but my skin is sensitive enough for me to be considerate about it with my skincare purchases.

Overall, I’m really happy with the Tony Moly AC Control Whitening Emulsion. I suggest this for anyone with oily skin, as the formula is extremely light weight but also helps to mattify the skin once it fully absorbs. If you have mildly sensitive skin like myself, you likely won’t have issues, but it will still be dependent on your skin’s specific sensitivities. I will happily use this emulsion up, so expect this to likely be in a future empties post a few months down the line.

Thank you so much for reading my blog post, it really means a lot to me to receive your support. I hope you’ve had a wonderful week, and the weekend is restful and fun.